Official: Russia to contest qualification as non-market economy

MOSCOW, Aug 17 (PRIME) -- The qualification of Russian economy as non-market by the U.S. will contradict the norms of the World Trade Organization, and Moscow will easily contest it, Maxim Medvedkov, head of the trade policy department of the Higher School of Economics and former key negotiator for joining the WTO told PRIME late on Monday.

“If the U.S. Department of Commerce interprets the information it has about our economy not in our favor and decides on its non-market status... such a decision will obviously contradict the U.S. obligations in the WTO and can be challenged in Geneva," he said.

The U.S. Department of Commerce earlier said it had started investigation into the Russian economy for its possible inconsistency with the market status.

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